Battery Drain Source
Thread Starter
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10
Battery Drain Source
The truck:
1990 F150 Custom / 4x4 / Manual Transmission / I-6 300 4.9 liter / Fuel Injected
I have a new battery and recently my battery has been getting drained in 24 hours to only 1 volt. (This has happened twice after having the battery checked and fully-charged.
Does anyone have advice on what could be drawing power? Nothing has been left on and the truck is stock with no AC, power windows or door locks. I have a voltage meter so maybe I could start from the battery and work to ???
Thanks!
Nabor J
1990 F150 Custom / 4x4 / Manual Transmission / I-6 300 4.9 liter / Fuel Injected
I have a new battery and recently my battery has been getting drained in 24 hours to only 1 volt. (This has happened twice after having the battery checked and fully-charged.
Does anyone have advice on what could be drawing power? Nothing has been left on and the truck is stock with no AC, power windows or door locks. I have a voltage meter so maybe I could start from the battery and work to ???
Thanks!
Nabor J
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 16,529
How about you try this; make sure everything is turned off in the vehicle and you don't want to open any doors or anything while the meter is connected in the system.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10
How about you try this; make sure everything is turned off in the vehicle and you don't want to open any doors or anything while the meter is connected in the system.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10
How about you try this; make sure everything is turned off in the vehicle and you don't want to open any doors or anything while the meter is connected in the system.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Today I installed a new computer since the previous was was the wrong one. In tandem with my electrical woes, I hoped for the best. After installing the computer, I went for a 10 mile test drive on town roads and the highway so I could see how the truck would respond at varying speeds and shifting. All went well until I got within one mile of my house. I was nearly home when all of a sudden I noticed the tachometer was reading 5-6,000 RPM's and the warning lights on the console all flickered (such as Rear Anti-lock, Check Engine, Etc.) I was no where near 5-6,000 RPM's, more like at 3,000 when all of a sudden the truck stopped running. I tried to start the truck, but got the famous "dead battery clicking sound." Next I checked voltage on the battery and it read 10.33 volts. I did the check with no lights on, the door closed, etc. so I was sure nothing was drawing power (that I could control.) I had someone jump start me and I was able to drive home, but the truck died just as I parked it. I checked the voltage again and it read 9.7 volts.
Any thoughts / suggestions? I'm guessing it might be the alternator? I left the battery connected to the chassis and I'm going to check the voltage for the next few hours to see if it drops. If it does, that will confirm something is drawing power and I will need to do more tests, but what stumps me most is why did the truck die while driving it.....alternator?
Thanks for your feedback!
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10
How about you try this; make sure everything is turned off in the vehicle and you don't want to open any doors or anything while the meter is connected in the system.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
Remove the negative cable from the battery.
Set the multimeter on the amps setting and place the probes in the proper plugs to measure amps. Once we know how much is going through the meter , then we can switch it over to measure milliamps.
Connect the red meter cable to the battery negative cable and connect the black meter cable to the battery negative post. Now everything going from the battery to the vehicle must go through the ammeter and you will be able to see how much that is. Most meters won't allow readings higher than 10 amps. As long as the reading is under 10 amps, you can now switch over to the milliamp settings.
Normal milliamp readings for your vehicle should be well under 50 milliamps.
That reading will tell you if you have an excessive current drain with the vehicle at rest and everything off. If it is higher than 50, let us know and we will go from there.
I'm living a nightmare with this truck. First a bad computer, now this!
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